


Everything I Wanted

by lmontyy



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Ellie - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Major Character Injury, Original Characters - Freeform, Pain, TLOU, The Last of Us - Freeform, Violence, dina - Freeform, ellie and dina, ellie williams, ellie x dina, the last of us 2, the last of us part 2 - Freeform, the last of us part ii, the last of us part two, this is really sad for a minute but i promise its gonna be ok, tlou 2, tlou part 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:53:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21523270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmontyy/pseuds/lmontyy
Summary: But it only took moments to realize: that bullet was intended for Dina. That bullet was supposed to be lodged in her back, but it ended up in Ellie’s gut instead.
Relationships: Dina & Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 294





	Everything I Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the song "everything i wanted" by Billie Eilish! It's really sad and mellow but it has hopeful undertones, and I had it on repeat while writing this so if you wanna get into the mood/atmosphere, I highly suggest playing it while you read!

“The woods are so quiet today.”

Ellie couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the trees hanging overheard, the sunlight peering through the summer leaves, surrounding them in a green aroma. The air was crisp, fresh, and clear around them, the blue sky painted above the branches filled Ellie with tranquility.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ellie answered the shorter girl standing many feet in front of her. 

Dina admired the scene before her just as Ellie had. Her black hair and murky brown eyes contrasted the green canopy above, the green of Ellie’s eyes. She wore a navy-blue long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her usual jeans and boots were sported, along with a large brown backpack full of mostly medical supplies.

She was right – the woods were oddly still that morning. No birds were calling from any direction, no scampering of paws and hooves could be heard, no rustling in the grass or the leaves. Aside from each other, the only other sound they could hear was the blowing of the leaves in the summer breeze. 

The patrol in which they separated from temporarily were silent off in the distance. It was just the two of them, alone, in the quiet forest.

“You don’t hear anything, right?” Dina turned to her, almost with an excited look on her face. “It’s not just me?”

“No, I don’t hear anything,” Ellie answered, taking a wondrous look around at the forest. Something in her was making her stomach turn and the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stand. She couldn’t tell what or why, but a feeling of impending doom set in on her, turning her blood icy cold. She released a shudder, gripping her arms, as she continued to look around in confusion. The backpack on her back, along with the rifle strapped around her, was starting to feel very heavy. It felt like the world was compressing her, and she had the sudden urge to take Dina and flee.

With a shake of her head, she suppressed the feeling, swallowing it like a gulp of water. She watched as Dina thoroughly enjoyed herself, taking in the air and the forest around her, and she just couldn’t bring herself to take her away from it. 

“It’s kind of a gross feeling,” Ellie admitted with a hand placed against her abdominal region. “I’m not crazy about it.”

“Oh, we’re fine,” Dina started for her then, slowly walking toward her, never breaking eye contact with her. That smirk was devastating. “You big baby.” She teased, wrapping her thin arms around Ellie’s shoulders and neck, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. She moved to rest her face against Ellie’s. 

Holding Dina’s body against her own was among the most comforting feelings in the world. The breeze brushed against freckled skin, and everything seemed to sit still around them. In that moment, everything was perfect and tranquil; everything was beautiful. Ellie had never felt so at home anywhere in all of her adventures. In the woods, just outside of Jackson, holding onto Dina, swaying in the wind.

“You’re everything I wanted,” Dina’s sudden whisper had Ellie reeling. Her whole body froze at the words coming from the shorter girl’s mouth in the most raw and loving tone she’d ever heard. “Everything I ever wanted.” She repeated, and it was dizzying.

Ellie stared off in shock, her entire being soaring at Dina’s passionate confession. The breath against her face tickled her skin and the tip of her ear. It was as if a lightning strike touched down and traveled through her veins. 

Everything was so perfect in that moment – she wanted to stay there forever, listening to Dina repeat those words over and over until she lost her voice. She wanted to hold Dina until she physically couldn’t anymore, until she couldn’t breathe, until her muscles gave out, when the world turned black, there was no life left in there. She could die right there in Dina’s arms and be okay with all of it; she would be satisfied, knowing Dina wanted her and loved her and cherished her. She would be completely okay with Dina being the last person she ever saw.

And that was when the shot rang out.

It didn’t register in her mind, not at first, but when a sharp pressure spiked in her abdomen, it ripped through her body like a current. She could only taste iron in the back of her throat, and her whole body went numb. The breeze began to fade away, and suddenly she couldn’t hear anything anymore – not the wind, not the winds, not the soft breath from the girl in her arms.

Her body, which had gone completely numb, began to sag, her muscles started to give out. Bright red spurted from her mouth, and she tried to reach up to catch it from hitting her girlfriend’s shirt, but to no avail. She barely raised it inches before it was falling back to her side. 

Dina’s entire body froze up, she could feel her body tensing against her skin, which was quickly losing feeling. The muscles in her legs had just about given out, and slowly red and black was enclosing on her vision. Breathing became a sport, the pressure heaving in her chest just too much to handle.

Dina pulled her body back, catching her as she fell, and the last thing she saw was Dina’s horrified face as she watched her girlfriend lose consciousness. Dina’s perfect face in complete despair, before the world went black.

***

The shot had cracked like thunder through the air.

She hadn’t felt any kind of pain, her eyes were shut and her whole face had scrunched, as if she were bracing herself for the worst pain of her life. Upon opening her eyes, she was met with the forest green around her, Ellie still holding onto her, and she felt her mind relax.

Then, she felt Ellie’s body falling limp in her arms.

With wide eyes, she felt warmth pool around her belly, and suddenly, she felt wet. She briefly, frantically looked down her body, and she saw the blood staining her clothing. And she knew it wasn’t hers.

She starts to fall to her knees with Ellie’s sudden weight completely lying on her, and her mind is in a panic: what was going on? But it wasn’t hard to understand. 

The bullet had buried itself right into Ellie’s body.

Gasping for breath as she landed on her knees, ever so slowly falling with Ellie’s body, and once she felt her legs hit the dirt floor below, she pulled Ellie back. All of the blood left her as she was finally able to take a good look at her face.

Her mouth was completely overrun with blood, the redness falling around her lips, her eyes staring off in the most terrifying way as they slowly rolled back. Dina felt the scream rising in her throat, but her body was in such a state of shock that the only thing that happened was her jaw dropped and she began to shake violently.

Ellie’s eyes were closing then, and Dina wanted to call her name, shake her until she woke up, but all that came out was the blood-curdling scream that had been building up in her lungs. 

More shots rang out, but Dina didn’t run; didn’t duck for cover. She just held Ellie close to her, her fallen face pressed against hers, and sobbed uncontrollably. One minute, she’d been holding this girl that she loved, felt her breath tickling the back of her neck, felt warm hands wrapped around her. That auburn sea of hair was soft against her face, those plump lips so gentle against her own. And in less than a second, all of that was disappearing at a rapid speed.

“Ellie…” she wailed through sobs. “Ellie!”

There was a storming of boots in her direction.

“Dina!” A frantic voice called. She was met with the face of one of her patrol members, Josh, and sliding to her knees beside him was another patrol member, Lesly. 

As the shock overpassed her, the instinct of keeping Ellie alive kicked in almost immediately. Placing her down on her back, Dina threw her bag completely off of her, and ripped open the zipper, the first aid supplies leaking out onto the musty floor.

“Holy fuck,” Josh panted, staring down at Ellie, his knees planted in the dirt on the opposite side of her motionless body. Lesly stared in complete awe and horror. “What the fuck happened, are you okay?”

“There was an ambush,” Dina’s voice was shaky, breathless, terrified. “They were fucking waiting for us.” Her voice was strained as she whimpered the words, ripping open a large gauze pad from the opening of the bag.

“We saw them,” Josh gaped. “But it was too late.” His hand found his way into his hair. “Fucking Christ, we were just too late.”

Lesly then chimed in, her petrified look framing her innocence. “We came looking for you, and then Huck and James spotted them. There must’ve been more than we thought.”

The sound of gunfire poured over them from over the small hill from where Josh and Lesly had come from.

“Shit, we need to help them,” Lesly murmured.

Josh turned to Dina, who was frantically pressing down on the open wound, the tears escaping one after the other as she applied direct pressure to her girlfriend’s abdomen. “Just, stay here, okay? We’ll be back for you.”

Dina didn’t answer, she just kept working. With direct pressure, the bleeding was starting to slow slightly. As Josh and Lesly took off in the direction of the fighting, Dina reached for a roller gauze and a sterile dressing. Lifting her shirt by the hem and firmly placing the sterile dressing down, she taped three sides and continued to apply pressure.

“Come on…” Dina urged under her breath. “Come on, Ellie, stay with me.” Tears had been rolling down her cheeks, the panic glued to her face as she continued to work on the bleeding girl before her.

Ellie’s eyes twitched, and Dina’s breathing immediately raced. Placing two fingers to the divot in her neck, she felt a weak pulse beating rapidly underneath the skin. Dina’s adrenaline was pumping faster, harder than it had ever been in her life, and suddenly, the reality that Ellie could be dead in the approaching minutes hit her, and her nerves set aflame at the mere thought of it. 

“Stay with me, Ellie!” She pleaded to the face that blinked in the most terrifyingly slow manner, graying eyes affixed to the canopy. Her mind was racing at impossible speeds. 

The weakest cough she’d ever heard surpassed plump, bloodied lips, stained and crusted over. Dina stared at her in horrified wonder, and continued to press down on the shot, frantically, as if pressing down harder would slowly revive her.

“Ellie…” she whispered, distraught.

Distant gunfire came to a halt, and the sound of a group of people running towards them came in as a crescendo.

“Dina?” Josh called as they approached, voice strained with worry, and within earshot she could hear the pounding of hooves emerging from her opposite direction. “How we doing?”

“Not good!” She called back, her heart in her throat.

“Peter! Over here!” Josh suddenly veered off course, guiding a horse and its rider in their direction, still running to the side towards Dina and the injured girl. “Dina, can you get her up?” he asked, just feet away, the horse now coming up quickly behind him.

“N-No, I don’t think so…” Dina’s arms found their way under her neck and knees, but she knew she couldn’t lift her. She just held her close, careful of the bandage exposed and tied around her waist.

“Here, give her to me,” Josh extended his arms out, and with all of the strength in the world, Dina slowly let Ellie into Josh’s arms. It took an incredible amount of willpower to allow herself to let Ellie go. 

Josh was aware of the bandages, and he took caution and care when slowly lifting her into the air. Peter and Josh were both strong guys, well-rounded and in their 20s. And while she did trust them with her, she trusted no one with her Ellie more than she trusted herself. But she just watched as Josh carefully brought Ellie’s limp body to Peter, who helped lift her up and fit her into the saddle behind Peter.

“Dina,” Josh cocked his head to the horse as he held Ellie up against Peter’s back. “Get up here.”

She wasted no time getting to her feet, throwing all of the supplies back into the bag and throwing it around her. She hopped up onto the back of the horse without hesitation, pressing herself into the motionless girl. Her hand made its way to the wound to continue applying pressure as her other arm snaked around her waist to hold her in place. 

“Ready?” Peter asked with a turn of his head.

“Yes, yes, let’s go, please,” Dina urged frantically. 

With a curt nod, Peter tugged the reigns in his hands and the horse quickly took off. Dina watched as Josh and the rest of the group slowly became a part of the background. Peter continued to urge the horse back towards the walls of Jackson.

As the trees whipped by, and Ellie bounced alongside her on the horse, Dina finally paid some mind to the thoughts that had been racing in her mind for many minutes. 

She’d been holding onto her girlfriend one moment, embracing her, feeling her, and suddenly, it was like she slipped away. She thanked every God she didn’t believe in that she was still alive. Dina knew she was a fighter, anyway. 

But it only took moments to realize: that bullet was intended for Dina. 

It landed right in the side of Ellie’s abdomen, but it was just inches, maybe centimeters away from Dina’s back. The shooter was at a good distance, and just missed Dina by centimeters. That bullet was supposed to be lodged in her back, but it ended up in Ellie’s gut instead. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain she must’ve felt, pain that wasn’t for her in the first place. The guilt ate away at her little by little, even as the gates of Jackson came into view. 

“Let us in! We have an injured!” Peter’s scream interrupted her thoughts.

The gatekeepers jumped at the sudden shout that cut through the air, and upon realizing the bloodied cloths and the limp body of Ellie that Dina held onto for dear life atop the beating horse, they quickly scrambled and yelled to one another, and before she knew it, the gates were open and they were inside Jackson again.

Peter stopped the horse once they reached safe ground, and he hastily jumped down off the horse, signaling to Dina to help her down into Peter’s arms. She struggled, but as fast as she could, she brought Ellie down gently. Peter grabbed a tight hold of her and placed her down on a stretcher that was being rushed over to them. Dina jumped off the horse and as Ellie was being wheeled away, Dina followed suit, running behind her girlfriend, silently praying with every pounding footstep as they made their way to the clinic.

***

“Dina, I need help.”

It had been nine days since Ellie’s injury. She underwent extensive surgery to remove the bullet – which they’d found to have only been a few inches deep into only flesh and muscle, and had touched centimeters away from her intestine – and was sent home with a crutch to lean on and thick abdomen bandages that wrapped around her waist and needed to be changed every morning and every night before bed.

“What’s wrong, love?” Dina’s head emerged from the doorway of their kitchen, where Ellie was standing just underneath one of the overhead cabinets, a deadpanned, disdained look plastered on her face.

After being released from the hospital four days later, Dina was more than willing to look after her, surrendering her shifts around the community to dedicate all of her time to helping Ellie heal and move around like normal. As stubborn as Ellie was, and as much as she wanted to rely solely on herself, she eventually opened up to the idea of help from her loving girlfriend. 

“I can’t reach,” she muttered, pointing to the cabinet.

Admittedly, it had taken a bit of time for Dina to really recover herself from the traumatic injury. Ever since that day, she had long nights of restlessness, and whenever she did manage to sleep, she awoke from countless nightmares of an alternative ending to that dreadful day. Every night she woke up shouting and crying, she would immediately reach for Ellie – who was always sound asleep beside her – and hold her, touch her, embrace her like it was the last time she would ever see her. 

But Ellie was there every time, she was so patient through all of Dina’s anxieties. She would fight sleep for hours to comfort her if she needed. In the end, they both knew all of this was temporary – it was just the initial shock and worry she felt that got under her skin and kept her up at night. Ellie knew it all stemmed from a good place, that Dina just feared Ellie would die that day.

Dina giggled to herself, and started forward to help the girl.

“You’re supposed to be the taller one,” she teased with a press of her nose to Ellie’s. She strained her arm and pulled the cabinet open. “What do you need out of here?”

Ellie frowned in embarrassment. “The cookies.”

It was impossible to suppress the laugh that rose in Dina’s throat. “The cookies, Ellie?” she asked, utterly amused, with a raise of her eyebrow. 

“Yes, the cookies.”

Dina shook her head, and strained her arm one last time to grab the box of chocolate chip cookies they picked up from the market in town before Ellie’s injury. Normally, the boxes never lasted this long.

Handing the box to Ellie, she smiled. “Here you go, m’lady.”

Ellie rolled her eyes and shot her an unamused, deadpan look. “Thanks.”

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Dina asked, the cutest, innocent look on her face. Her hands swayed together behind her back.

“No, you can stop acting like my servant now,” Ellie huffed as she started off on her crutches towards the living room couch. Dina watched her go, but didn’t expect her to turn around before leaving the kitchen.

Facing Dina, Ellie looked at her, the deadpan still present, but her eyes soft with honesty.

“Thank you, for everything.”

Dina’s heart filled for a moment as she watched Ellie’s grin form.

“No problem.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> This is another of the Tumblr requests I received for these two.
> 
> My tumblr handle is @lmontyy, and I take any and all requests, (so long as they're not unreasonable or crazy!) but I'm very easygoing when it comes to writing, and do enjoy writing for others. Any and all questions or inquiries may be directed to my inbox here or on tumblr. :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
